Sweater Pact

Megan and I want to knit sweaters. I just got this most awesome book...

Something for everyone.

Pick the body.

Pick the sleeve.

Pick the collar.

Done.

Well, you gotta knit the thing, dontcha?

I'm going to buy yarn tomorrow in DeKalb. Then I'll go with Megan on Saturday to pick her yarn. Yay! Yarn!

It's sadly my last Friday off. I gotta go back to work Monday. BOOOOOOO! I have SO enjoyed my time off. I gardened, painted, cleaned, etc... LOVE it. Now, if only I could stop Murray McPukesalot from yakking on our white bedspread, I could maybe do some OTHER laundry.

WWMD? (What Would Monet Do?)

Last Friday on my way to the not so Local LYS...

For the record, I go to the YS in DeKalb because
a. there isn't a true LYS near me
b. Mango's has the most excellent smoothies EVER
c. there are beautiful vistas on Annie Glidden Rd.

I saw this marvy sight on my left and tried to make the turn, but had to turn around at a farmhouse. There was an enthusiastic dog that tried to decide if I was friend or foe. I'm not sure what he decided, but I hightailed it back to the road to take some pics.

















I LOVE hay stacks. (Hay rolls? Hey! Rolls!) I wonder if Monet would paint these if he was a current artist. And not dead.

Did I mention how I was laughing as I took this series of pics? The hay, it fills me with joy. Why fight it?

This pic did NOT win in my photo class. I think it should have, but I don't want to be greedy. :)

Men say "I like my socks...

like I like my coffee..."

Do not try this at home. Please, for the love of all that's holy.
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.................................





















Seriously! What did I just say?!





















For less disturbing pictures of cats and Madison's weekly Farmers' Market, see new pics on the left.

New bag... she is done...

The square bottom worked out well. I love the colors. Love love love love love love....

Check out the previous post for pre-washed size.

Mistakes, Design Elements, and Opportunities for Growth

Remember this bag? It looks cool, but actually I made a major mistake early on... so it became a "design element". That's what knitters call mistakes that will still work out. (Also, you can count on felting to cover a multitude of sins... just like in Euchre - you can count on your partner for one trick.)

Here's what happened. I didn't understand a direction, so my stitch count was off. Then I made an assumption. I assumed that the base of the bag was round. I didn't bother to read the directions anymore. I was half way up the sides when I realized my "design element". It didn't adversely affect the outcome of the bag... except I saw how it'd be a bit cooler with the square bottom.

On to the 2nd bag... I figured out what I did wrong, and was able to make the bottom square. Nice. Got up the sides, no problem. Got to the point where you BO a bunch, then knit a bunch (for the handles - keeping the stitches live). Here's where things started to go wonky.

I did the BOs and the knitting, sewed in all my ends and kitchenered the 1st handle together. I held it up to admire my handiwork and realized my mistake. I had BO'd when I should have knit and vise versa. Now, this would not have mattered had the base been ROUND, but now since it was SQUARE, my knitting was 45 deg. off kilter. YAAAAAH. Only myself to blame... I ASSUMED that I knew what to do, and didn't refer to the directions. (Do you see a theme?)

I should have photographed it as I fixed it, but I was so mad...

I was unwilling to reknit the handle, so I used dpns to pick up the handle row that meets the bag. I picked up, with circs, all 200 stitches around the body of the bag a couple of rows down. I cut the stitches just below the handle, and detached it. I then ripped back to the circulars. I then (AHA) kitchenered the handle in the right place... live stitches to live stitches. I'm a GENIUS. OK, maybe not... but I have now MASTERED THE KITCHENER STITCH. Lee was pretty surprised at how good it looked and how you couldn't even tell. I was too.

Here is the bag pre-washing, with DVD for scale.

I think it looks like a tank top. An itchy, hot tank top.

For Lee...

Ho Hum...

I'm a little embarrassed, actually...

I won the photo contest in my photo class again this week:
















I called it "Smoking Man."

Sorry, Matt, guess your kid just wasn't cute enough to beat out Big Tobacco.

404

So I headed on down to my LYS for their Friday knitting circle thingy... they're all called something different, so I can't remember what this one is called. Since I was hitting DeKalb around lunchtime, I thought I'd stop in real quick like at the local Subway. 12:01, I'm in the LOOOOOONG line... did I mention how hungry I was? No? So, finally we're up to the lady in front of the lady in front of me.

She whips out a list. I groaned inwardly. The lady in front of me sighed audibly. Looked like she was an actual working person, who was gonna spend 1/2 her lunch hour in line at Subway.

List lady says, "I need 2 foot-long tunas."

"Whew," I think, "that's not a long list."

"Oh wait. I need 6 other sandwiches too." Some other people wanted to sigh. Most rolled their eyes at least. I'm sure of it... that's what it felt like. Perhaps it was just me, but you know the sound that's not a sound a line will make when there's someone not ordering properly. Conversation stops, breath being exhaled, shifting from one foot to the other.

Good thing I'm so patient now. Ha ha. Although, I did remember that I didn't have anywhere in particular to be... except KNITTING, darn you! List lady did have the grace (?) to grin sheepishly to the rest of the people in line and say something about feeding a frickin' army.

12:15... I'm finally up to pay. The cashier (who looked like a guy entering a Kevin Smith look-alike contest) says, "That'll be $4.04."

So I say "Oh no, I've be 404'd." But I said it like Strong Bad. ** Then I covered my mouth with my hand, feeling all kinds of uncool. The cashier says, "Are you alright?" I nod and beat a hasty retreat.

Goodbye Subway in DeKalb, that I can never, ever go to again.

** Ok, there's a lot of schema you'll need to know to understand what a huge geek I am. Start here for the Wikipedia explanation. Hmmm... this may take more that I can give... If you don't think this website is funny, you won't get it anyway.

I didn't think it was THAT hot!

Anyone know how to get melted CAT out of the carpet? Anyone?

Hmmm... maybe opening a can of tuna would do it...

"It's so hot, it could melt a cat."

That's a saying, isn't it?

Isn't it?

She's done and I Love Her

Here's my French Market Bag. Woot!





















I decided to go to my LYS and buy some yarn in shades of blue for another bag. Check out what I got. Blue? Um, yeah. I saw the green and fell in love. I'm so fickle. I guess Yarn Love is like that. Lee thinks it's Christmasy, but I'm thinking Springy... Mmmmmm... new yarn...














I spent a couple of hours knitting with the LYS ladies. I plan on going on Fridays, since I'm off in July. (Yes, it pretty much rocks. I told Lee I wished I could feel so good all the time... no "have to's", just "want to's".)

And the Winner is....

ME!

In our photography class, we each show 3 pictures a week, and then the class votes on which is best. The winner gets an 11x14 "print" (printed on a good color printer).

This picture of Sky won last week:





















I'll be passing on the print to Sky's parents. I can't wait to see it printed big. It looked awesome projected on a big screen. (That's how we view them in class.)

P.S. This picture was taken before class started. Since class started, most of my pictures have been AWFUL. TERRIBLE. I was afraid I'd peaked too soon or something. Was I thinking too hard? Was it just situational? This weekend, though, I managed to take some decent photos. Whew. Some more close ups of kids' faces and fireworks.

Christmas in July

We were at a family wedding in Midland, and on the way out of town, Lee said "Hey, isn't Frankenmuth around here?" (Just so you all know what a great husband I have...)

I had no intention of enjoying Bronner's, much less purchasing ORNAMENTS in JULY. Well, we got out of there for under $100... just. Dang it. If you have never been there, it is the largest collection of ornaments and Christmas crap EVER.

We found nifty ornament hangers, because we're trying to get out of putting up a tree. Because of cats, and laziness. Our idea is to hang up collections of ornaments. That could be cute, right?

Bronner's newest angels...

Memory Lane

When I was a kid, I'd spend time every summer at my grandparents' cottage on Big Star Lake. One of the highlights was always a trip to Jones'. Heee. We found ourselves in the area and took a little detour. Lee is always up for ice-cream. It's not like I had to twist his arm... at all.

Baldwin always seemed so far away from the cottage. Of course it wasn't, but this was always a welcome sight.

I realize it may look suspicious that I have an ice cream in each hand. Of COURSE they're not both mine... um... really...

And, be sure to catch this event in Baldwin...

Why, Zac, why?

Do you get the feeling his friends call him "the Zac-ster"?